This working Group will seek to consider how patterns of negotiation among European States have emerged from the late 1960s and early 1970s on reforms of labour markets and social protection in the States in difficulty.

Research project:

The financial crises faced by Greece, Italy and Spain since 2010 have caused a vast movement of reforms both at European and national levels. Three aspects are of particular importance: 1) increasing public financial transfers through the institution of intervention funds to support the economies of the States in difficulty; 2) the reduction of the deficits and debts of Member States; 3) reforms of labour markets and social protection in the States in difficulty. It is on this last point that this working Group intends to focus in a historical perspective.

This working Group will seek to consider how patterns of negotiation among European States have emerged from the late 1960s and early 1970s on this issue. This is indeed a turning point from which the debates on international competitiveness and unemployment and the criticism of the welfare State have multiplied. The welfare State refers to the devices by which a State guarantees to workers, in particular lower-paid workers, protections against risks and on the level of wages. The group will then seek to determine to what extent these patterns would tend to oppose two types of European States: States devoted to defend the level of wages and social protection and States more ready to accept wage and social fluctuations according to economic circumstances. If the latter would be more confronted with the problem of the working poor, the former would be more heavily beaten by the problems of competitiveness, unemployment and, consequently, public deficits during difficult circumstances. In addition to the problem of the differences in development among European countries, these differences would constitute the crux of the issue of solidarity among European States. Since 20 years, greater openness to trade and the single currency would have accentuated these mechanisms. Protectionism and currency manipulation could allow States in greater difficulty to restore their competitiveness protected from foreign competition. These buffers lost, intra-European differences would have developed within the open market.
If these features were confirmed, the Group would seek to determine their causes in the political balances and contexts specific to each State. This would have to determine to what extent the two above-mentioned States groups correspond to Mediterranean States on the one hand and to the States of Northern Europe on the other. The impact of differentiated exposure to migratory pressure from North and West Africa and from the Middle East might explain different political balances on wages and social protection. However, this group will also incorporate varied perspectives, explaining the difficulty of European solidarity and the divergences among European countries by other factors, such as linguistic otherness.